John McDonnell: A Farewell To Tito’s Handmade Vodka, But Not Necessarily The Travel Retail Business!
1 minute read
Introduction by: Peter Marshall
John McDonnell needs no introduction from me. An industry legend, as Managing Director International, Tito’s Handmade Vodka his achievements are both measurable and highly impressive, opening up 150 countries for this iconic craft brand, which is now to be found in 700 airports across the world. Though this may be our last interview with John wearing his Tito’s hat – he leaves at the end of the year – it doesn’t stop him from communicating in his ever-straight-talking way about the brand, the industry which he loves and the changes he would like to see take place.
Here we cover why shifting to in-house distribution management for the travel retail and cruise channels was the right course of action, the commoditization of vodka, Tito’s brand differentiation, how Tito’s balances scale with consistency and the differences between selling spirits in the USA versus the rest of the world. And then, of course, we talk about our mutually shared bugbear – the prohibitive costs of attending the two key industry exhibitions in Cannes and Singapore and what TFWA should be doing about it. Not forgetting IAADFS, either, and here John shares his concerns about its future viability.
In this 10 minute video, we also chat about the milestones in his career as he shares his key learnings with all. And, as he hands over the baton to Nick Cook, he leaves a business in excellent shape and in very good hands.
So, it’s au revoir, John. I want to personally thank you for your support of TRunblocked.com, all the great interviews which we have done together – great fun, great content, always honest and straight-shooting. Somehow, I don’t think we’ve seen the last of you!
